Generally, the present application relates to flameless candles. Particularly, the present application relates to techniques for illuminating an outer surface of a candle shell in a flameless candle.
Flameless candles may have candle shells that include wax or a waxen material. As used herein, a waxen material encompasses wax, a wax substitute, or similar materials. The waxen material may allow the flameless candle to appear more like a conventional flamed candle. While the waxen material may provide such benefits, it can be relatively expensive.
Because a flameless candle does not consume the wax, it may not be necessary to have a candle body that is solid. Instead, it may be preferable to have a hollow interior region within the candle body, such as a candle shell. Such a design requires less material. An electronics insert, including a lamp such as a light-emitting diode (“LED”), may then be inserted into the candle shell and at least partially into the interior region.
One desirable effect of a flameless candle is to provide an illusion of a conventional flamed candle. The conventional flamed candles are, typically, solid wax. As discussed above, flameless candles may have a hollow interior region. Consequently, the illumination pattern of a conventional candle may differ from that of a flameless candle with a hollow interior region. An example of an illumination pattern in a prior art flameless candle with a hollow interior region is illustrated in FIG. 4. Such an illumination pattern may not effectively mimic that of a solid wax candle. Furthermore, the hollow region may contain irregular structures, such as batteries, electronics, supports, or the like. Such structures may cause irregular illumination patterns.
One known technique for influencing the illumination pattern of the outer surface of a flameless candle is to place a light-blocking barrier between the hollow interior region and the light source. Such a technique is shown in European Patent No. 1,419,345. However, this technique is intended to block substantially all of the light from entering into the hollow interior region of the flameless candle. Consequently, this technique may not effectively illuminate the outer surface to generate the illusion of a solid wax candle. Thus, it may be desirable to have a flameless candle that solves these and other problems.